


Among the Shattered Tales (The girl once helped remix)

by Estirose



Category: Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Implied Sheila/Hank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: She has many stories, but for some reason a lot of people like this one.





	Among the Shattered Tales (The girl once helped remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lost_spook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Promises](https://archiveofourown.org/works/186813) by [lost_spook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook). 



Hello, my friend! Have you come to hear my stories? Yes? It's always good to share them, you know. If you don't, they'll get lost.

So, which do you want to hear? Sarah and the Terrible Chaos? How Gordon Found His Courage? Ingus and the Room From Another World? Maybe Luca and her magical dolls? Ah, no, I know what you want to hear! The Loss of the Jewel of Istra! Everybody wants to hear that story, and it's so sad. It's a true story, though, I swear to everything! It was told to me by one of the adventurers!

The Jewel of Istra was a small magical gem, an alamandine of a rich red-orange. It had a powerful enchantment that was meant to bring you to any world you wished, if it existed. So many supposedly do! But I am but a humble old woman and cannot tell if this is true.

The adventurers who had found it were a group of six - a thief, a ranger, a cavalier, a barbarian, an acrobat, and a mage. They had been friends of many years in a world far apart from our own, and they were heroes in ours, saving many villages and dispatching many fiends. You have perhaps heard of them! Or perhaps not. This was a long time ago, after all.

One of them, a wise thief named Sheila, had been the one to go in and find it in the ruins. It had been her talent, to find where it had been hidden for millenia. I have heard that the Gem was made specifically to aid this set of adventurers, long before they came here. It certainly sounds like the will of the gods, to me.

But then the skeletons awoke! An evil sorcerer named Gamlett had created them so long ago when he couldn't find the Jewel of Istra. Gamlett is long dead, of course, but the enchantment remained. So they arose, and chased after the young thief. She ran and ran and ran to find the others, but the skeletons were fast, and almost caught her. If their ranger, Hank, had not closed the door, surely there would be no tale to tell to you now.

Young Sheila was able to activate the gem and open the portal, but the skeletons were trying to break through. They were merciless, armed, and determined, but Hank was determined as well. To her terror, Sheila realized that he intended to hold the door shut so that the skeletons could not reach them - a sacrifice, as predicted by the sage who had sent them out their journey. A sacrifice, to send them home.

A sacrifice, dear listener, that Sheila was unable to let Hank make.

She told me this once, to reassure me that I had been right choice myself that day. But you did not come here to hear my story, of course! It is a tale of woe, and not one I talk about easily. 

But to return to the story. Sheila and the others could see the place where they had left their own world to come here. They had not come on purpose, not planned to be heroes, but they were. So, understandably, they wanted to go home. They'd left their world at some kind of fair, and to that fair they would be returned.

The others had started through the portal, but Sheila's younger brother Bobby hadn't. She knew she had to protect him, but she also wanted to protect Hank. "Hurry!" Hank had cried to her. But she couldn't. She couldn't leave him! Not even to save her brother. Hank was trying to urge her to take Bobby home, forget about him, but she loved him. She couldn't leave him.

So, she did what she had to do, and dropped the Jewel on the floor, shattering it under her foot. It may have been a precious jewel, but to her, making sure all of them, not just most of them, got home was more important.

Well, wouldn't you do the same for your travelling companions, your fire-forged friends, and those you loved? It is the choice that I made, and it is the only choice that she could have made.

Of course, her companions were upset! Once again, their way home was gone, and Sheila was the reason. Even when she was unwell, one of them - Eric, I believe - tried to yell at her, and another, Presto, sadly asked her why.

Hank was upset, especially. "That was the stupidest thing I've ver seen. You should be safe home now."

"Not like that," she'd said. "We all go back together. Promise?"

He thought, and refused to speak, until she reminded him that he wouldn't have wanted to be left behind. He might have survived that day, but what would have happened to him then?

Sheila told me that he finally relented, much to her relief. She certainly didn't want to leave him, nor did she want to explain to her elders and the local sheriffs that Hank was still lost.

I can speak as to how painful that could have been, because that would have been a choice I could have made. I am no world-travelling adventurer, but I understand love.

Do I know what happened to them? No. I met Sheila and the others once, and I doubt I will ever see them again. Maybe they have found their way back to the fair. I can only hope. They were kind, and they were good. I hope the gods were able to intervene and send them home for their heroic deeds.

Ah, where is the Jewel? I presume it's still in those ruins. If nothing has changed, the fragments are still being guarded by the skeletons, still waiting for their master to come back. Is that what you really wanted to know? How to find the Jewel of Istra?

That is not my tale to tell, I'm afraid. Maybe someday you might find those six, ask them. I never did. I am no adventurer and I do not care to venture to a monster-filled ruin for a fragment of an enchanted Jewel! What I do know is that a sacrifice has to be made. It always happens.

It may happen to you. Do you want to make that sacrifice? Could you? Then you're far braver than me. Or maybe I am far braver than you. It is your choice to make, and I hope that you make it well.

Do you want to hear other tales? Or are you too impatient? You do? I'm very surprised! Maybe you'll think about this for a bit. Maybe you won't have to do what I did and what Sheila did.

Let me get more tea - ah, my daughter Sheila will do that for me, thank you dear. I'll tell you about Luca and her dolls! It is about sacrifice, too, you know. The best stories seem to be. But this one is heartwarming. This one came out well.

But I've rambled too long. If I can help you write your own story, then I will. Just give me time, listen to my tales, and go on. The best adventurers always do. You won't succeed if you don't.

Ah, here's my tea. Daughter, could you get some for our guests as well? There is so much to tell! Let us - let me - begin.


End file.
